Roast

Serve these nice and hot, or let them cool to room temperature. If you’d like to make this a little more contemporary, you can add a dash of balsamic vinegar to the red peppers and scallions as they cook. In true Italian-American style, these are topped with butter, but in Italy, we would use olive oil. Best yet, top them with butter, then “bless” them all with a little olive oil. This wonderful stuffing is delicious in celery stalks baked with a light tomato sauce. You can also line up blanched asparagus on a baking sheet, sprinkle the bread crumbs over them, and bake them until the crumbs are crispy. I’m sure you can come up with a lot of uses for the bread crumbs. Remember, I give you the basics, but I want you to go and play.

French fries are maddeningly delicious, but consider that a large order of McDonald’s French fries contains about 500 calories and 25 grams of fat before you dip them into ketchup or mayo. I think it’s time for French fry rehab, don’t you?

Few dishes are as soul-satisfying and luxurious as a buttery-rich potato puree or mashed potatoes. I love mashed potatoes, but I know that they’re not particularly good for me. Cauliflower puree makes a truly superb substitute.

This recipe calls for lean boneless pork loin, and to avoid added sugar, we use fresh apples instead of applesauce. Tart Granny Smiths contribute great texture and flavor—as does a grainy Dijon mustard.

I love these ribs—they’re better than real BBQ for two reasons: (1) They ring in at one-third the calories and fat of the original, and (2) you can make them easily at home in your oven and enjoy BBQ even when it’s raining, or too hot, or too cold, or the mosquitoes are out in droves.

Usually, when I make meatloaf, I just press my mother’s meatball mix into a loaf pan—but that calls for pork, whole eggs, and white breadcrumbs. Not exactly spa cuisine. Instead of going for ground turkey here, I wanted to use lean beef for a richer taste. The Portobello mushrooms add moistness, flavor, and bulk—in exchange for very few calories.

Béarnaise is one of the classic French sauces. Its standard formulation includes a lot of butter and egg yolks. In this version, I kept the licorice-tasting tarragon that’s a hallmark of the sauce and let the fat and calories go.

This dish is a prime example of how a cooking technique—in this case, charring peppers over an open flame—adds fabulous flavor to a dish without one bit of fat, sugar, carbohydrate, or salt.